Daily Archives: October 23, 2015

The national flower of Korea is the Hibiscus syriacus (known in Korea as ‘Mugunghwa’). Theflower’s symbolic significance stems from the Korean word mugung, which means “eternity” or “inexhaustible abundance”.

The national flower of Australia is the Acacia pycnantha (commonly known as the GoldenWattle). The Australian coat of arms includes a wreath of wattle, and the green and gold colours used by Australian sporting teams were inspired by the colours of wattles.

The Program aims to promote mutual understanding between the two countries through the exchange of teachers and to provide participating teachers and schools with opportunities to teach abroad and build a network with foreign schools.

The program is a reciprocal exchange program that involve Korean teachers being placed for three weeks in a Victorian host school where they observe classes, co teach and gain insight into school operations. Participating Victorian teachers arrange homestay for the Korean teacher during their visit and later go on a return exchange to Korea for three weeks.

Victorian teachers interested in finding out more about the 2016 program can send an email registering their interest to Daniel Yong at: yong.kean.k@edumail.vic.gov.auwith ‘ROK Exchange Enquiry’ as the subject.

Hokuzan High School in Japan and Shepparton High School hosted a virtual class on Monday September 14. The majority of the class involved introductions and greetings, but the it provided a great opportunity to practise both English and Japanese language skills.

In Shepparton the students had cards written in Japanese, but used English to communicate with Hokuzan. J-pop was mentioned in the introductions, and both groups were fans!

Japan and Shepparton meet via Polycom.

“Konnichiwa!” “G’day!”; the students greet each other in their virtual class.

Mr Woo Tong-Ki, superindendent of the Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education took part in a linkup between Saeron Elementary School and Chelsea Primary School on September 15th, with students at both ends dressing up in their finest hanboks.

The students taught each other traditional dances and songs, including a performance of Waltzing Matilda. Lots of preparation was put in by teachers to showcase their passionate classes. The students then broke off for a quick rehearsal on mute before giving their final performances, which gave a nice insight into the parallels between cultures as the students prepared informally in groups.

On October 30th a momentous event will occur with the first ever signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the South-Western Victoria Region and the Daegu District in the Republic of South Korea. This signing follows the success of a pilot in our project that has partnered-up 6 Daegu schools so far. This is a very exciting development and it secures the future of our project and opportunities for more schools to join into 2016 and beyond. Photos and full story in the November Newsletter after the event.